Auckland resident, UK-born James Barrett aka Keepsakes had released his first experimental house EP on Sequel One Records in 2013, and if you would have listened to it at the time of its release, you'd never even assume that in a year, he'll become one of the brightest newcomers on the scene located at completely opposite side of frontline - the scene of industrial techno. Towards the end of 2013, he became one of the most talked about artists and skyrocketed to the fame in circles of heavy techno admirers. Let Me See Your Teeth, a track published on his 2013 EP through Green Fetish Records, has been giving a wow or wtf effect (usually both) to anyone that graced their ears upon it. In his style of warehouse-aimed production he has incorporated all the elements required to effectively mess people up and make them lose their minds in sound - acidic, rude, completely tactless basslines, skillfully filtered, unintelligible vocals, the kicks with just the right amount of "bang"; under his guidance, everything just comes together and works flawlessly for the purposes intended.

    As of late, Keepsakes has been amusing himself with production of 115 BPM, lo-fi-leaning, Nietzschean electronics that upon first encounter have what sounds as a sheer manipulated noise for basslines and raw, distorted, tonnes-heavy kicks that run under open hats for percussion - that's basically Xenophobic Pub Man for you. Titled with a name which puts an image in your mind that you could do without, Shame Stains rises the tempo to 133 BPM utilizes 4/4 kicks supported by edging-at-unbearable-levels-of-noisiness spinning bassline, roughened samples of whipping, open 4/4 hats, 16/4 clicking bits, and Keepsakes' signature disfigured vocals; it ends in a bassline being let completely loose on the listener and morphing into pure sheets of noise. Next piece slows down to 127 BPM and starts off with distorted to a fault, deafening 4/4 kicks, and a noise-shaped arrangement that occupies the vacant segments in between the hitting; what follows is slowly rising and fading, panned industrial ambiance, simple open hats and... what is this? Juicy, rich melodies that serve for basslines and funky, woohoo-ing vocals which nobody expected to find in all this Flab. The charmingly named Downtown Fuckboy Feel My Wrath (guess we're swearing in our publication after all) elevates to 134 BPM and gives your ears somewhat of an easy pass - there's noticeably less distortion to simply signatured kicks - they're just a little soaked in the acid; at the same time, the rapidly panning, completely dry 12/4 and 4/4 hats in discordance with reshaped whipping samples run atop the spectrum, as the resonant mutating bassline steadily gets out of control, and does so sooner than you can prepare for it. For the closing 6 minutes, Kamikaze Space Programme shares his vision of the former track with us - he keeps the tempo, muffles and widens the kicks but removes the acid, adding shadowy, shifting backdrops, metallic stabs, panning samples of running cogs, and baffling bassline loops that get reverberated every now and then.

    Download is exclusive to Bandcamp where lossless tracks are provided in glorious bit depth of 24 at a standard sample rate of 44.1kHz.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 4 December 2016

Release Format: Digital

Record Label ● Catalog: T/W/B ● TWB12

Purchase Links: Bandcamp